Mumbai Crime: Two arrested in Rs 40 lakh heist, mastermind absconding

By Sagar Rajput |Posted 23-May-2014

Out of the four who stole the cash from a cloth merchant’s shop in Pydhonie, two, including the main accused, are still absconding with more than Rs 13 lakh booty

Two men, out of four, have been arrested in a burglary case of Rs 40 lakh taken from a cloth merchant’s shop. According to cops, one of the accused arrested, identified as Nizamuddin Shaikh, is a repeat offender who has two other cases of theft registered against him.

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Shaikh, along with three others, had stolen Rs 40 lakh from a cloth merchant’s shop based in Pydhonie on May 3. Out of the four, Mayur Ramesh Pawar was arrested by Crime Branch Unit 3 from his Andheri residence on May 12. During interrogation, Pawar revealed the involvement of Shaikh, who was then arrested from his Jogeshwari residence on Tuesday. However, the main accused is still absconding. “The mastermind behind the theft was working in the shop next to the cloth merchant’s. He got information on May 2 that the cash was arriving at that shop. He called the other three and planned to steal the amount. The merchant decided to leave the cash in the shop, which the four took advantage of and stole the next day,” informed Sanjay Nikumbe, police inspector from Crime Branch Unit III.

“While conducting parallel investigations, we learnt that the one employee of the neighbouring shop had not reported to work since the day of the crime. We are still trying to track him. Meanwhile, two have been arrested in the case,” added Nikumbe.

Cops revealed that they had also sent a team to Uttar Pradesh to hunt for the main accused, but have not had any success yet. While after the arrest of Pawar and Sheikh, they have managed to recover Rs 16.24 lakh, they believe that the remaining amount is with the absconding duo.

The accused have been booked under sections 454 (lurking house-trespass or house-breaking in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment), 380 (theft in dwelling house, etc) and 457 (lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment) of the IPC. The arrested accused have been remanded to police custody till Friday.